Details of Thesis

Title

The Experience of University
Academic Staff In their Use of Information Communications Technology

Author

Howell,
Gordon William

Institution

Australian Catholic University

Date

2007

Abstract

This
research explores issues encountered by academic staff in their adoption
of technology within the teaching and learning environment. The context
of this research is set within a global environment; where technology is
seen as both underpinning and enabling the current period of rapid
change. Both the literature and University documents purport that the
use of technology is instrumental in the delivery of positive economic,
educational and social change. The researcher identified a dissonance
between administrative policy and practices, and academic practice in
relation to the use of technology. Consequently, the purpose of this
study was to explore the experiences of academic staff in their adoption
of technology within the teaching and learning environment. The
literature review generated following research questions: 1. Why do
academic staff use information communication technology (ICT)? 2. How do
academic staff use ICT? 3. What are the barriers to the use of ICT that
have been identified by academic staff? 4. How do academic leaders
promote the use of ICT in teaching and learning? As the adoption of
technology is essentially a social process, the epistemological position
of constructivism, using an interpretative perspective, was adopted for
this research. The methodology of case study is utilised as it allowed
detailed exploration of self-perceptions and lived experiences of the
participants in relation to their use of technology within their
professional practice. 21 participants were initially selected for this
study. From this group of participants Rogers’ Theory of Diffusion was
used to select those participants who could provide the most useful
insights; resulting in the seven case studies documented in this thesis.
Participants within the case studies ranged from those who were highly
innovative, to those who were late technology adopters.This research
concluded that for the academic mainstream, the deployment and
availability of technology had reached a stage where hardware, software,
internet connectivity and projection capability were no longer seen as
impediments to their use of technology. All participants, ranging from
the highly innovative to the late technology adopters, used technology
for email, the world wide web (WWW), administrative tasks, and the
preparation and presentation of their lectures. While the use of various
technologies was universal among the participants, the predominant use
of technology was to support the transmission mode of instruction. The
research concluded that a constructivist educational approach was not
closely linked to early technology adoption, but to the participants’
individual educational beliefs. The educational beliefs of the
participants were in conflict with their experience of the University’s
practices, which reflected a lack of instructional leadership in
relation to the use of technology.